Projo 7 to 7 News Blog

It's happening -- at this early hour, cars negotiating the new piece of roadway that takes traffic off Route 195 West to Route 95 north and south is causing some confusion for motorists.

A reporter driving the split says he's already seen several cars swerve between the left and right choices for Route 95 South (left), and Route 95 North, with one cutting through the lane of barrels set up between them.

Traffic is moving steadily, though, and no accidents have been reported.

Rhode Island Department of Transportion created a new split, at the Providence end of the Washington Bridge, dividing traffic bound for a Route 95 south from traffic headed for Route 95 north.

DOT officials had said that the split, built overnight with concrete barriers and plastic traffic barrels, would probably disrupt traffic by itself, and that drivers forced to weave across traffic on the bridge would probably disrupt things more.

DOT officials including the agency's director, Michael P. Lewis, had said that the opening would actually make traffic congestion worse, until the final phase of the project opens late this year. They say that the situation was unavoidable because of construction needed to complete the next phase of the project that could not begin until after today's shift took place.

The DOT is in the midst of relocating a section of Route 195 between its juncture with Route 95 and the Washington Bridge. It's the DOT's biggest project, with an estimated cost of $610 million, and also involves building a new interchange where Route 195 meets Route 95.

Thursday's change, linking westbound Route 195 to southbound Route 95, is the third of four phases of the project. The first phase, connecting Route 95 northbound to Route 195 eastbound, opened in November, 2007, producing days of traffic jams. The next phase, from Route 95 south to Route 195 East, opened smoothly on Dec. 6, 2008.

The DOT says that the final phase of the project, linking Route 195 west to Route 95 north, will end the problems caused by today's changes, but won't happen until this fall.

 Tags  iway Providence RI traffic

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